"3 Men Are Charged in a New Orleans Bias Slaying"
Article appeared in the Nov. 21 edition of the NY Times.
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 20 (AP) -- Three men have been accused of
beating and stabbing two men, one fatally, while shouting anti-
homosexual epithets in the French Quarter.
The victim, Joe Balog, 22, of Gulfport, Miss., was chased,
beaten and fatally stabbed on Nov. 11 as he and a friend returned
to their car in the early morning after visiting several bars.
Mr. Balog's friend, whose identity has not been made public, was
seriously injured.
On Thursday, the three suspects, Grant Wayne Gunderson and
Ronald D. Graves, both 24, and Mingo Graham, 23, all of the New
Orleans suburb of Metairie, were charged with murder. They were
jailed without bond, and no hearing date was scheduled.
Advocates for gay rights here say the attack is the latest
of a series of harassing incidents and attacks on homosexuals in
the French Quarter.
THE WRONG SIGNALS
"It used to be just harassment, but it's gotten worse in the
last few years," said Lin-Tod Soldani, a liason between
homosexuals and the Police Department. "I think people are
getting the signal from the government on down that gays are
second-class citizens and it's O.K. to treat them any way at
all."
Mr. Soldani said the attackers mistakenly believed Mr. Balog
and his friend were homosexuals. He estimated that more than 50
percent of the men on streets of the French Quarter late at night
are homosexual.
While homosexuals believe that crimes against men are
increasing, the police here say it is hard to tell because
separating hate crimes from other attacks is often difficult.
Also, homosexuals are sometimes reluctant to report hate crimes
against them.
Bryan Sanchez, a 22-year-old college student, said he was
kicked and taunted by a group of six well-dressed young men in
the French Quarter exactly a year before the attack on Mr. Balog.
Mr. Sanchez, who is homosexual, suffered a ruptured ear drum in
the attack.
"After they had all hit and kicked me they stood over me
calling me names and shouting things at me," Mr. Sanchez said.
"It was terrifying and it happened for no reason other than they
wanted to hurt someone who was gay."
Mr. Soldani said a hostile attitude toward homosexuals had
been made worse by the reversal of a city decision to extend
health insurance to the domestic partners of gay city workers.
The attacks are even more alarming, Mr. Soldani said,
because New Orleans has a tradition of tolerance. "This has
always been a diverse city and gays have been comfortable," he
said.